Chapter 6 - THE BOY WHO PROMISED TO PROTECT US
Dante stared at the photograph for almost a minute.
Then he whispered, "I remember this."
We stood inside a quiet hospital waiting room.
Toby was asleep, and the nurses had assured me he was stable.
I held the photograph between us.
"You knew my father?"
Dante nodded slowly.
"I was seventeen."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't recognize him from the name alone. My father introduced him to me under a different surname."
My stomach tightened.
"What name?"
"Adrian Mercer."
I remembered Mom's letter.
Find Samuel Mercer.
"Mercer?"
Dante looked up.
"Yes."
I felt a chill.
"Samuel Mercer was the man Mom told me to find."
Dante rubbed his forehead.
"Samuel was Adrian's attorney. They were investigating my father's charity accounts."
"Then why is your picture with my parents?"
He sat down.
"Because Adrian once saved my life."
I stared at him.
"What?"
Dante looked toward the window.
"When I was seventeen, I discovered my father was involved in illegal financial operations. I tried to confront him."
He laughed bitterly.
"That was a mistake."
"What happened?"
"He locked me inside one of our private offices and told his security team I wasn't allowed to leave."
I felt sick.
"Your own father?"
Dante nodded.
"Adrian helped me get out."
My heart pounded.
"Why?"
"Because he believed I deserved a chance to become someone different."
Dante looked at the photograph.
"He took me to a safe house. Your mother treated an injury I'd suffered. They fed me dinner."
I stared at him.
"And?"
"And Adrian told me something I've never forgotten."
"What?"
Dante's voice softened.
"He said, 'A man's family name doesn't decide the kind of man he becomes.'"
Tears filled my eyes.
That sounded exactly like the father Mom had described.
Dante continued.
"Before I left, Adrian asked me to promise something."
My breath caught.
"What?"
"If anything ever happened to him, I was to protect Catherine and her children."
I stared at him.
"You knew about us?"
"I knew he had a daughter. I didn't know about Toby. And after Adrian disappeared, I couldn't locate your family."
I looked down.
For years, I'd believed nobody cared whether Toby and I survived.
Now I was learning that someone had made a promise to protect us long before we met.
"Did your father know?" I asked.
Dante's expression hardened.
"He knew Adrian helped me escape. That's why Adrian became a target."
I looked at the photograph again.
"What happened to my father?"
Dante shook his head.
"I don't know."
Then his phone rang.
Marcus.
Dante answered.
"Tell me."
Marcus spoke urgently.
"Boss, Samuel Mercer has been found."
Dante stood.
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"At a private assisted-living residence in Connecticut."
My heart raced.
Dante put the call on speaker.
Marcus continued.
"There's something else. Samuel claims Adrian Vance never disappeared."
I stopped breathing.
"Then where is he?"
May you like
Marcus hesitated.
"Samuel says Adrian has been in federal witness protection for twelve years."
